The Good
So over the last 5 games, the form side has been the reds from Mersyside and the blues from South London. Both have gone unbeaten and both have picked up impressive victories along the way playing some fantastic football. First off, Brendan Rodgers' men are slowly becoming the season's dark-horses and as the teams above are stuttering, they are making up ground and with teams including Chelsea and City to play, they could well be in the title picture. As Daniel Sturridge has been reunited with Luis Suarez, the pair have been devastating. In the last 6 games they've featured in since Sturridge's return, at least one of them has scored as both top the goal scoring charts, Suarez with 23 and Sturridge with 16. The tika-taka football has torn teams apart, notably Everton and Arsenal. The Mersyside Derby in October was the game of the season in a six goal thriller, however this one was a one sided onslaught by the reds. Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and a double from Sturridge sent Martinez' men down the road with an injured Lukaku and pride dented. Whereas, Arsenal's demolition was more of a quick job. With four goals in the first 20 minutes and Sturridge doing his dance again, Arsenal's title hopes were severely blown by a Mersyside mauling. A couple of cameo errors from Kolo Toure have been a comedic downside, but Rodgers and Liverpool are ramping up the pressure.
One of the teams the pressure is on, is Jose's Chelsea. A master class at the Etihad and a coast past Manchester United a Stamford Bridge have proved Chelsea are able to deliver in big games and are yet to lose to a team in top 5 so far this season and maintain Mourinho's incredible undefeated home record. The player of the month for me has definitely been Eden Hazard who has been different class, particularly since the turn of the year. Scoring his first hat-trick for the club against Newcastle shows how much progress he's made under Mourinho and is a front runner for player of the year and could even have a first Premier League medal to boot. Mourinho is the master of mind games and has started to wind up his title rivals Pellegrini and Wenger, calling Wenger a 'specialist in failure' and saying City have been 'lucky' with decisions this season, as he constantly dismisses his side from the title race calling them the 'little horse'. Yet the 'little horse' have done the double over the so called favourites for the title.
The Bad
Where there are the form teams, there are the falling teams and there is no side more in free-fall than Fulham. Sitting bottom of the pile, 4 points from safety, they need to improve and fast. Rene Meulensteen is a well known coach an very successful as a coach, so when he has the job of saving a sinking ship as a manager, he is clearly out of his depth. Meulensteen lasted two weeks in charge of Russian outfit Anzhi (whatever its name is) and today has now been SACKED as Fulham boss. Despite the fact it's the right decision, it comes after two of Fulham's best performances of the season. A gutsy and well earned point at Old Trafford was followed by a hard working display against Liverpool. If he was to be sacked, why not after embarrassment at home to Sunderland in a 4-1 defeat, or a poor away defeat at another relegation candidate Crystal Palace, not after battling well against two top sides?!?! Despite this, Rene made good signings in the window which has added quality and should see Fulham get to safety, like Lewis Holtby and Konstantin Mitroglu. New manager Felix Magath has a hard job on his hand, but with experience at the likes of Bayern Munich and VFL Wolfsburg, he should guide Fulham to safety.
Another side and the peril of the drop is Norwich City. Chris Hughton's side are 16th and a point in from the relegation zone, with the lack of goals at Carrow Road they are in the mix of a battle at the bottom. New signings Gary Hooper, Johan Elmander and Ricky Van Wolfswinkel have managed to muster 9 goals between them in the league, with Van Wolfswinkel's only one coming on the opening day. There defence leaked 7 in at City but managed to keep a clean sheet at home to the big spenders but losing to relegation contenders West Ham United will not help Hughton. Hughton has been ordered to quickly improve Norwich's position, but if they continue to lose to other sides in and around them, Hughton won't see the end of the season in May.
Arsenal
As an Arsenal fan I'd thought I would summarise my views as we head to a pivotal point of the season. So far I'd say we've gone above expectations overall this season, getting through a tough Champions League group, chasing the title, a chance of an FA Cup and signing a player like Mesut Ozil along with some eye-catching results. However, recently performances have been under-par and topped with the thrashing at Anfield, a win in the FA Cup is a must. Our best chance of a trophy is the FA Cup as City and Chelsea face each other and with victory over Liverpool and avoiding either City/Chelsea in the next draw, it looks a possibility. Liverpool will be no means easy and neither will the small test only by the reigning European champions and treble winners Bayern Munich. With a small amount of firepower upfront thanks to no additions in January and injuries to compound it with Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott missing. It's time for players like Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, Olivier Giroud and Ozil to step up and play for the shirt as a chance of ending the trophy drought is here and they need to realise this, kick on and do it, hopefully they will!
Thanks for reading!
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